Key Thought

Jesus is trying to slow down the rush running through the crowd. The rumor has gotten started that the Kingdom of God is going to begin immediately on his arrival in Jerusalem. He chooses to use a story to dispel this myth. However, the key for us is to notice how followers of Jesus want to rush his work rather than letting him fulfill matters based upon his Father's timing and will. Our impatience with the Lord's timing can lead us into making poor decisions.

Today's Prayer

Get WJD by EMAIL!

Enter your email address above to subscribe to the email edition of What Jesus Did! Follow along FREE every day as we go through Luke in a year. More Info on Mailing Lists

Father, give me the wisdom to know your will in my life and the patient endurance to wait on your timing. Forgive me for my foolish impatience. Through your Spirit, please develop my self-control, patience, and peace. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Jesus traveled closer to Jerusalem. Some of the people thought that God's kingdom would come soon. Jesus knew the people thought this, so he told them this story: "A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then the man planned to return home and rule his people. So he called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money to each servant. The man said, 'Do business with this money until I come back.' But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So the people sent a group to follow the man to the other country. In the other country, this group said, 'We don't want that man to be our king!' "But the man became king. When he came home, he said, 'Call those servants that have my money. I want to know how much more money they earned with it.' The first servant came and said, 'Sir, I earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me!' The king said to the servant, 'Fine! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities!' The second servant said, 'Sir, with your one bag of money I earned five bags!' The king said to this servant, 'You can rule over five cities!' Then another servant came in. The servant said to the king, 'Sir, here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it. I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn't earn and gather food that you didn't grow!' Then the king said to the servant, 'You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said that I even take money that I didn't earn and gather food that I didn't grow. If that is true, you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.' Then the king said to the men that were watching, 'Take the bag of money away from this servant and give it to the servant that earned ten bags of money.' The men said to the king, 'But sir, that servantalready has ten bags of money!' The king said, 'The person that uses what he has will get more. But the person that does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him. Now where are my enemies? Where are the people that did not want me to be king? Bring my enemies here and kill them. I will watch them die!'"

— Luke 19:11-27 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.